Customer Reviews

A Stephen Sondheim Evening (1983 Concert Cast)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the better Sondheim tributes, but because RCA cut out 2 numbers from the original 2 lp set to fit on one disc, I can only give this 3 stars. I owned the original lp set, and wasnt aware of this omission until after I bought the cd. One of the best songs on the original, You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See Us Through with Liz Callaway (among others) from Follies was cut. Inexcusable! There were several other lesser songs they could've cut instead if time was a problem. (Poems and There's Something About a War being two of them) In small print in the booklet it says the 2 cut songs are available on Collected Sondheim. Yeah, like I want to shell out 50 bucks to get those 2 songs when I have everything else on that compilation? If you havent heard the original set, you'll probably love this recording and there is a lot to love, including Angela Lansbury singing Send In the Clowns with Sondheim on the piano. But if you have heard the original LPs, Buyer Beware! Shame on you, RCA!!!

Live performances are tricky to record, and the result is often not nearly as satisfying as attendance at the event itself. This album, though, is different. "Brilliant" about sums it up. Besides including numbers that had been part of recorded scores before, it includes some that were cut from various musicals, or were never produced at all. Not only is Bob Gunton's performance of "Pretty Little Picture" far better than that on the original "Forum" cast album, it is, I think, done more in the fashion Sondheim intended. And two of the "cut" "Forum" numbers are delicious: "In the House of Marcus Lycus" is delightfully sly and filled with double-entendre, and George Hearn revels in the witty lyrics; and "There's Something About A War" is screamingly funny, especially at the point the soldiers lose control gloating about "houses to destroy --Hey! women to enjoy-- hey! statues to deface - hey! - mothers to debase - hey!...". Even the wonderful scoring for small ensemble works perfectly. (In "Something about a war" the fanfare, in the original cast album scored for brass, is performed by a synthesizer, and sounds wonderfully satirical, reminding one of Marvin Martian from the Warner Brothers cartoons.) The numbers from the (at the time) unproduced "Saturday Night" are great, especially Victoria Mallory's ecstatic "What More Do I Need?". The rendition of the moving "Someone In A Tree" is indeed, as others have pointed out, far better than on the "Pacific Overtures" album. And as a final pair of jewels we are treated to Angela Lansbury singing "Send In the Clowns", accompied by Sondheim himself, and then Sondheim and company singing "Old Friends" I could go on and on, but you get the picture. NOW, get the CD!

I was at this concert, and this recording captures the excitement that the performers generated that night. A lot of Sondheim's best songs, and a generally strong group of singers. It's unfortunate that the CD release is missing two of the numbers that were performed that evening (and were included on the original LP release). Judy Kaye's "Being Alive" is a particularly glorious highlight of this CD.

My introduction to Stephen Sondheim was "Sweeney Todd" -- and my love for that soundtrack brought me to a STEPHEN SONDHEIM EVENING, especially when I heard Angela Lansbury, George Hearn and Chris Groenendaal were preformers (not to mention the always delightful Liz Callaway and Bob Gunton!)on this album but I never expected it to be as magnificent as it is. The atmosphere is friendly, fun and - oh! - those voices! "Someone in a Tree" is sung better on this album than any other I've ever heard! A MUST for all Sondheim fans.

If you don't know Sondheim's work, this is a concise, entertaining, extremely well-performed introduction to it. And if you do, this is still a very good compilation!

Everyone on this album can really sing. The performances of "Being Alive", "Poems", and "The Miller's Son" are much better than the Broadway cast recordings. A wide range of material is included, including some rarely-performed stuff from "Saturday Night", Sondheim's first (but unstaged) musical.

Another nice thing about this live recording is the relaxed, friendly, cabaret-like atmosphere. The orchestra is small, and one gets the impression the audience was pretty small, too. Overall, I think it's a much better experience than, say, "Follies in Concert", which is a huge recording--so huge that one wonders if the "event" didn't overwhelm the material.

I like this Sondheim Revue. The performers are good, and I appreciate that they don't try to be "clever" with Sondheim's music. They just performs it as it is written.

The orchestrations are...well...slim. But the synths aren't disturbing, except in Miles Gloriosus.

Otherwise some rare SJS gems are included here. And Angela Lansbury's Clowns is one of the few versions of this song worth listening to (it's not a bad song, but done so many times:P).

If you really like Sondheim music and like the songs on this collection, buy A Sondhiem Collection, the three disc set. All of the songs are on that set as well. However, there are a few lines and introductions that are on this CD and not the other. This one has great performers, Liz Callaway, Georger Hearn, Angela Landsbury, Bob Gunton. Sondheim accompanied Ms. Landsbury in one of his most famous songs from A Little Night Music, "Send in the Clowns."

Beautifully programmed, performed, recorded and edited. Sondheim is capable of clevering me to death or pounding a symbol senseless, but on this CD he truly is "winsome as in some dream come true".

Barry Rosenberg, Composer-Lyricist
www.barryrmusic.com

This is an excellent compilation of songs, both well and not so well known, which is performed by a first rate cast of performers. This 1983 concert features great vocals with minimal though effective accompaniment. In my opinion, Liz Callaway gives a definitive version of "What More Do I Need?" (Saturday Night) and "The Miller's Son" (A Little Night Music). George Hearn and Victoria Mallory turn in a beautiful rendition of "With So Little To Be Sure Of" (Anyone Can Whistle). Angela Lansbury is accompanied by Stephen Sondheim on the piano to deliver her rendition of "Send in the Clowns," which is one of the better and heartfelt sung and is definitely worth a listen. Selections from all of Sondheim's major musicals except Follies are featured.

This recording is really realllllllllly bad. The songs are terrific, of course, although the selection seems rahter arbitrary. And it is terrific to have a recording of lost gems like House of Marcus Lycus and Invocation. But otherr than that, this CD just stinks! The arrangements were scaled down to a piano (which really seems like its being piped in from a different concert hall) and a wince-inducing synthesizer. The voices are uniformly distant and tinny, the result - i assume - of poor mic placement. And WHO is this Stephen Jacob person, and how did he get it into his head that he's a singer? Every time he opens his mouth - I kid you not - I shudder. I was kind on this CD - I give it 3 stars only because it has some great songs on it, and Judy Kaye's Another Hundred People is very very good. But other than that, this is worthless.